Freaky Friday at Gallows Manor
by eecmidford
Summary: Kid finds himself in what seems like a very weird dream...


"KIIID! Good morning, good morning, good morning!" called a familiar high-pitched voice.

"Morning, Patty," Kid replied without looking up from the Death City Times.

"I'm not Patty, silly goose!" she giggled. Kid turned in surprise, and sure enough, it was the taller sister who was squirting mounds of maple syrup onto her stack of pancakes. She giggled incessantly as she sang, "giraffe, giraffe, giraffeyyy..."

"Liz, that's way too much maple syrup. You're going to get sick in class again, and I really don't feel like dealing with that today," Patty said, shuffling groggily into the kitchen and pouring an enormous mug of black coffee.

Kid blinked in confusion from one Thompson to the other. Patty would never drink black coffee, and Liz would never be so cheerful first thing in the morning. Was this a trick? Were the girls sleepwalking? Or under a spell? Whatever their problem was, Kid was not going to let it keep him from his usual morning routine. He took a quick tour around the house, checking the cleanliness and symmetry of each room while his weapons finished breakfast. Usually Patty's bedroom looked like a disaster area, but today it was perfectly neat. Liz's room, on the other hand, was littered with clothes and magazines, her bedding in a heap on the floor. It was such a mess that Kid found himself wishing he'd never been born. However, as it was 6:30 already, there was no time for suicidal thoughts. Brandishing his state-of-the-art cleaning equipment, Kid choked back his tears and set about tidying up.

• • •

The three of them arrived at school an hour late, like always. Maka waved them over to their usual row, where she'd saved three seats.

"We'll be dissecting cobras today, so everyone try to hold on to your breakfasts," said Dr. Stein. "Maka or Tsubaki, lend our three truants your notes from the first part of class so they can catch up. Everyone else, take out your scalpels."

Patty groaned dramatically. "Dissections are gross. I wanna go back to sleep." Liz rocked with laughter. Kid turned to Soul.

"Soul, do you think Liz and Patty are acting a bit odd today?" he asked. Soul looked over at the girls. Patty was painting her nails hot pink, and Liz was drawing a crayon elephant on her desk.

Soul shrugged. "They don't seem odd to me."

"Are you kidding?" Kid said. "It's like they've swapped bodies or something!"

"Nah, they seem normal."

Stein pounded his desk, silencing the classroom. "All right kids, your snakes have been handed to you. Break into groups of four and start dissecting. Make sure one person in each group writes down your process and draws pictures of the inside of the cobra. This will be turned in for a grade."

Black*Star joined up with Kid, Patty and Liz. "So, who wants to be the first to cut this thing open?"

"Ooh! Me! Me! Me!" Liz squealed.

"But Liz, you hate dissection labs," said Kid.

"What are you talking about?" Black*Star asked. "Liz totally loves dissections. It's Patty who thinks they're icky."

"That's. It." Kid rose with an angry jerk, his face dark with frustration. "Is someone going to tell me what the hell is wrong with my weapons?" He glowered at his friends, who all stared back with blank faces. There was a long silence, then suddenly Patty burst into giggles.

"Patty! You totally blew our cover!" Liz cried, though she found herself succumbing quickly to her sister's contagious laughter. Before they knew it, Maka, Soul, Tsubaki and Black*Star were roaring with laughter as well.

"Man, that's gotta be the shortest-lived practical joke ever," Soul said. "Nice going, Patty."

Kid felt his face turn dark red. "You mean to say you were all in on this?!"

"It was Maka's idea!" Black*Star said.

Maka shrugged sheepishly. "I got the idea when 'Freaky Friday' was on TV last week. You were the only one not there, Kid, so we decided to play a little joke on you."

Kid was flabbergasted. This was one of the weirdest things his friends had ever done. He, Death the Kid, a grim reaper, had actually been fooled by a childish prank! A sheepish smile crept onto his face, widening into a grin and culminating in a roaring laugh.

"Kid! Stop goofing off and get back to work!" barked Stein.

"Ugh. I almost forgot about this creepy snake," said Liz.

"Yeah, were you actually going to dissect that thing for the sake of the joke?" asked Tsubaki. "That would've been some high-level pranking."

"I'm just glad I get to do it now!" exclaimed Patty. "HAHAHA! DIE, ugly freaky snake, DIE!" She hacked at the cobra, much to the horror of those around her.

Kid smiled to himself. Patty was a violent maniac, Liz was a total fraidy-cat, and he loved them both just the way they were. He had good weapons. All was right with the world.


End file.
